PSALM 43:1-5

This week we find ourselves in Psalm 43. Many believe it to be a continuance of Psalm 42 when David is fleeing from Absalom. It has no title. I have given it the theme of “Practical Principles With Purpose”. I will not quote the text here but have your Bible handy as we walk through this text. David is spirit filled with practical thoughts that will guide us through this minefield we call life.

            I call our attention to verses 1-3 where I see ‘A Prayer Prayed’. In verse 1 David prays for ‘Examination’. He brings his case of Absalom stealing the kingdom and lays it before God. He asks the Lord to examine this situation. We better be sure our heart is clear when we come for our God’s close inspection. “Popular opinion weighs with many but divine opinion is far more weighty with the gracious few.” (Spurgeon) One word from God will more than suffice to bring down a nation of haters of righteousness.

            David brings us two great devils only God can deliver us from, the devil of deceit and injustice.  When someone is lying against you and slandering you we can only bring it before the Lord.  We are no match for these activities of the Devil.

            In verse 2 there is a prayer for ‘Transformation’. He remembers his present state of being ‘cast down’, the disease of the little lamb that leaves him on his back with all four legs in the air.  David finds himself cast down because of ‘oppression’. This is an attack and pressure from none other than the devil and demons of Hell. Oppression can make a wise man mad. In the midst of oppression David turns to our only hope and stay. He says, “For thou art…” It is a present tense realty, which continues through today that David, turns his prayer to. He said God is the source of his strength. Oh to be transformed from being cast down to living in the strength of our God. Let us remember God’s strength is only perfected in us when we are weak.

            In verse 3 there is a prayer for ‘Illumination’. David prayed for light and truth. One is key to the other. Light speaks of spiritual understanding and truth speaks of the Word of God. David is asking for the Word to come alive so it might lead him through this dark time in his life. He wants not only present leadership of going back to the ‘holy hill’ of Jerusalem but future guidance to the eternal dwelling place of God.

            In verse 4 David shares with us ‘A Praise Proclaimed’. David mentions his ‘Intention Of Praise’. (Vs. 4a) If he gets a chance to go home again it is not his palace he wants to go to first but to the altar at the house of God. He mentions an ‘Individual Of Praise’. He refers to God as ‘my God’ and calls Him not just ‘joy’ but his ‘exceeding joy’. Our God is not just a fountain of joy or the giver of joy or the maintainer of joy but He is joy incarnate in the person of Christ. David also mentions the ‘Instrument Of Praise’. If God will allow him to return home he will play upon his harp praises to His name.  

            In verse 5 we see ‘A Patient Pursuit’. We find here David’s ‘State Of Patience’. He recalls his being cast down with an unsettled spirit. (Vs. 5a) We find in verse 5c his ‘Subject Of Patience’. David is going to wait for the one and praise the one whose face brings health to his countenance. I see in verse 5b the ‘Source Of Patience’. As he closed out Psalm 42:11 David once again decides not to remain under the circumstance so to speak, but he arises and puts his ‘hope in God’. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scar His work in vain but hope in God will make His way plain.

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